Agenda, decisions and minutes

Members of the Council will declare any interests they may have in any item to be considered at this meeting, prior to any discussion taking place on that item.

The other registrable interests of Councillors of Devon County Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.

For details of District and or Town and Parish Twin Hatters – please see here County councillors who are also district, borough, city, parish or town councillors

The Chair reminded Members they should declare any interests they may have in any item to be considered, prior to any discussion taking place on that item. The details of District and or Town and Parish Twin Hatters was on the attached list - County councillors who are also district, borough, city, parish or town councillors

The Director of Legal and Democratic Services then outlined the position for Members who sat on other Authorities who may be attending meetings regarding Local Government Reorganisation.

It was explained that the matter was being brought to Council prior to responding to the Government’s invitation and submitting the Council’s interim plan illustrating the work completed to date. Members were not being asked to recommend a formal proposal.

All Members had a dispensation permitting them to speak and vote in the debate. The general dispensation covered membership of other authorities. The only exception was where the issue was a matter of dispute between the County Council and the other authority and the matter would affect the financial position of that other authority, the County Councillor could speak on the matter provided they then withdraw from the meeting room.

The Chair of the Council had no announcements to make.

There was no item raised as a matter of urgency.

Petitions, Questions or Representations from Members of the public in line with the Council’s Petitions and Public Participation Schemes.

There was no petition received from a member of the public.

There were also no questions or representations from the public.

Answers to questions from Members of the Council pursuant to Standing Order 17 noting that Standing Order 17(2) highlights the requirement for questions to be related to the matter being discussed at the meeting.

In accordance with the Council’s Procedure Rules, the Leader provided written responses to two questions submitted by Members of the Council relating to the substantive item on the agenda.

The Leader responded to the supplementary questions arising therefrom.

(A copy of the questions and answers are appended to the minutes and any supplementary questions and answers may be observed through the webcast of this meeting).

The Council is asked to receive and consider a Report of the Chief Executive regarding the Local Government Reorganisation Interim Plan.

The Council RESOLVED to:

(a) note the approach taken to develop a response to the Government’s invitation to submit an Interim Plan on Local Government Reorganisation in Devon; and

(b) Support the Leader of the Council to submit the Interim Plan by 21 March 2025.

The Council considered the Report of the Chief Executive (CEX/25/2), relating to Local Government Reorganisation and the interim plan.

The Report highlighted that Government had launched the English Devolution White Paper in December 2024, which set out the Government’s intentions to move to unitary authority structures in remaining two-tier areas in England, such as Devon, alongside its approach to widening and deepening devolution.

This had been followed by a Statutory Invitation from the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution to all 21 two-tier council areas to submit proposals for a single tier of local government. In Devon, the invitation was sent to all 11 Councils (County Council, 8 District Councils, Torbay Council and Plymouth City Council). This Statutory Invitation included a timeline and a request for an Interim Plan by 21 March and a requirement to submit a full proposal by 28 November 2025.

Included in the invitation was guidance from the Secretary of State for unitary government proposals framed under 6 criteria. For Interim Plans, 8 areas were identified. Appendix 1 included a copy of the Statutory Invitation where the full details of the guidance could be found, and a summary was included in the Report. In addition to the criteria the guidance set out two further areas to take into account for full proposals, which were boundary changes and engagement and consultation.

In support of the Statutory Invitation, a series of Webinars had been led by senior officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) offering opportunities for questions and providing clarifications on expectations. Whilst the original guidance sought a single interim plan from each area, and required firm initial proposals covering the 8 points in the guidance, the webinars indicated that Interim Plans could be submitted by any local authority invited to respond where there was no consensus on a single solution, and importantly that the interim plans were  not a decision point and could set out initial work and approaches rather than defined solutions.

The Council Leader had written to the Minister requesting clarification on this additional advice in a formal response to support the submission of an Interim Plan from the Council (Appendix 2a) and a response to this letter was shared in Appendix 2b.

The proposed Interim Plan from the Council in response to the Statutory Invitation was attached in Appendix 3. The approach taken had been to engage with local partners, Elected Members, staff and key stakeholders. The plan set out work done and the further analysis and steps the Council would consider undertaking to develop a full proposal. One of the Council’s core operating principles was to be evidence-led. The Council had engaged through the CCN a number of supporting studies and analyses, which were work in progress and would help inform the next stages of development for a full proposal. These included a pixel funding disaggregation model and Newton Europe - an analysis of people-based services.

A number of engagement meetings had been held with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 362.